Reflections on violence today

We need to disentangle the different kinds of violence currently occurring around the world, to identify their short and long-term causes, the perpetrators and victims, and the sustaining conditions (who benefits, directly and indirectly)--without preconceptions, and without confusing explanations with excuses. And without any illusions that contemporary violence is in some way exceptional, since it has always been a feature of human society. The reflections that follow attempt to sketch an approach to this challenge, by addressing the violence that attends the development of capitalism; the counter-violence that resistance to capitalism and imperialism generates; the 'violence amongst the people' that is so tragically widespread under conditions of contemporary capitalism; the role of the US as 'global policeman'; and, once again, the issue of socialism or barbarism in our own time.